When I was 12, I went to spend a summer in Vancouver with my biological father Hank and his fabulous wife Ieva.    I admired that Ieva was so well read and educated.  I admired her wit and sense of humour.  I admired that she had travelled the world and lived abroad.  I admired that she made gourmet cafe lattes with her own fancy coffee maker.  In short Ieva was a terrific influence on me and she is still my friend although she and my father divorced many years ago.

In addition to producing my sister Silvi (who is pretty much my favourite person in the world),  Ieva taught me how to make Greek salad.  I have made and eaten Ieva’s Greek salad every summer since I was 12 years old.  When the weather is hot this is the best food.  It is delicious and it requires very little effort.  You can serve it with eggs for breakfast, as a side for meat or fish, on top of salad greens  or you can just make a meal out of a gigantic bowl of it!  This is a simple recipe, so using top quality local organic vegetables and good olive oil will really make a difference in how the salad tastes.  Hank and Ieva lived in a Greek neighborhood in Vancouver so they always got super good olives and feta.

GREEK SALAD

• 1 cucumber cut into chunks (you can peel and seed them if you like…or not)
• 1 giant  tomato or a few plum tomatoes cut into chunks
• a handful of Greek olives
• a handful of crumbled feta
• the juice of one lemon
• a generous splash of extra virgin olive oil
• finely chopped onion to taste (I recommend rinsing the chopped onion under cold water to take some of the raw onion edge off)
• chopped fresh dill or oregano if you’ve got it

Put it all together in a big bowl and eat it!